Obama Nominates Former Ohio AG, a Loyal Democratic Donor, to Lead New Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

President Barack Obama today nominated Richard Cordray to serve as the director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a creation of the Wall Street reform package passed by congressional Democrats last year.

Cordray currently serves as the CFPB’s enforcement director.

From 2008 to 2010, he worked as the attorney general of Ohio. And during that time, he earned a reputation as a champion of consumer’s rights by filing complaints and lawsuits against financial giants such as Bank of America and AIG — the latter of which finished in a $725 million settlement going toward Ohio’s public pension funds.

He’s also a big donor to Democrats.

Between the 1990 election cycle and the 2010 election cycle, Cordray donated $71,080 to Democratic candidates and organizations, research from the Center for Responsive Politics indicates. His wife, Margaret, donated an additional $16,500 — also all to Democrats.

Cordray’s largest chunk of change has gone to the Democratic Party of Ohio, to which he gave $35,930 in the form of 19 donations between 1995 and 2009, including a $10,000 donation in January 2006. From 2001 to 2005, he contributed $16,500 to 21st Century Democrats in the form of six donations.

Although he didn’t make any contributions to Obama’s presidential campaign, Cordray has made the following donations to Democratic presidential candidates:

$750 to Bill Clinton for his re-election in 1996;

$1,000 to Al Gore during the 2000 election cycle;

And both he and his wife donated $2,000 to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) during his presidential bid in 2004.

Obama praised Cordray’s previous work in Ohio during remarks on Monday.

Cordray was handpicked by Elizabeth Warren — who dreamed up the bureau and has organized it as the special assistant to the president and special advisory to Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner — to join the bureau last year after his loss at the polls.

And she backed his nomination for the post, even as many liberals hoped Obama would nominate her instead.

Republicans have staunchly opposed any possible appointment of Warren as the director of the bureau, saying they would filibuster her to prevent a confirmation.

Some top Democrats are now encouraging Warren, who is also a law professor at Harvard University, to challenge Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) to win back the U.S. Senate seat long-held by the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy.

On Sunday, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said Republicans will oppose Cordray until changes are made that allow for greater accountability within the bureau, despite the looming date for the agency to begin operations, the Associated Press reported.

Similarly, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued a press release Monday calling for the creation of a system of checks and balances on the CFPB.

“The director is the only Senate-confirmed position at this new federal agency, putting unprecedented powers to regulate a large part of our economy in the hands of a single individual with virtually no checks and balances,” David Hirschmann, president and CEO of the Chamber’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, said in a press release. “Congress must use this confirmation process as an opportunity to get clear answers on how the new $500 million agency will work.”

The Chamber also advocates for a bipartisan council to lead the CFPB rather than a single director.

In addition to a congressional fight over the director’s nomination, businesses, trade associations and other groups have ramped up lobbying efforts on the federal agencies responsible for implementing these reforms since the bill was signed in to law last year.

Said Obama, “They’ve already spent tens of millions of dollars this year to try to weaken the laws that are designed to protect consumers. And they’ve got allies in Congress who are trying to undo the progress that we’ve made.”

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